“A man don’t need no papers,” was the insulting reply, “in order to take possession of stolen property, wherever he can find it!” Stroup now pushed his way through the crowd to Havens’ side and looked the fellow over with threatening eyes. “Talk civil!” he advised in a moment. “Now, Stroup,” said the officer, “don’t you go to butting into this!” “That’s the man who let the thieves take my machine!” said Havens with suppressed passion. “That’s too bad,” exclaimed Stroup moving nearer to the officer. Before Havens could lift a finger or say a word to prevent, Stroup shot out a great fist which landed squarely between the eyes of the officer. The fellow went down in a huddle on the ground, but the next moment the posse he had gathered in order to back him in taking possession of the machine gathered about Havens and Stroup. “Here, here!” shouted a man in uniform pushing through the crowd. “I arrest both of you fellows!” “It strikes me,” Havens smiled, “that that really is the best way out of it. This mob begins to look ugly.” The two men willingly entered the ’bus with the officer and were hastily driven to the city prison. When at last the door was closed and locked against them, Havens turned to Stroup. “Well,” he said, “for all long-distance, ready-for-action bruisers I ever saw, you certainly take the cake! You’ve assaulted three men and got us both locked up! And yet,” he added, “I rather like it!” Stroup blushed and grinned and said not a word. CHAPTER XVII. A MESSAGE FROM THE SKY. For a time it looked as if the _Bertha_ must fall far short of the summit and drop to the jagged rocks below. There was nothing whatever the boys could do. The song of the motors had almost ceased, and they understood that through some mischance the gasoline tank had become empty. The situation was a critical one. The angle at which the flying machine was descending, however, included the summit to which the boys were directing her. In a few moments she landed at the top, and almost rolled down the opposite slope before the momentum could be checked. Ben instantly ran to the tanks and found them empty. He called to Carl, and the two made a close examination of other portions of the machine. There was nothing wrong anywhere except that the tanks were dry! Ben pointed to the drain cock at the bottom and found that it had been turned about half-way. That explained the situation. “What surprises me,” he said, “is that we never noticed the leak. Why, we should have been able to smell the wasting gasoline before we left the camp. I don’t understand why we didn’t.” “That’s easy,” explained Carl. “We were cleaning up the machines this morning, oiling and shifting a little gasoline from one car to the other, and so we never noted the additional evaporation.”